Eddystone Lighthouse
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| Eddystone Lighthouse | |
|---|---|
 An aerial view of the fourth lighthouse. (The stub of the third lighthouse can be seen in the background.) |
|
| Location: | Devon, England (offshore) |
| Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
50°10.80′N 04°15.90′W / 50.18°N 4.265°WCoordinates: 50°10.80′N 04°15.90′W / 50.18°N 4.265°W |
| Year first lit: | 1698 / 1705 / 1759 / 1882 |
| Automated: | 1982 |
| Deactivated: | 1703 / 1755 / 1877 / - |
| Construction: | wood / wood / masonry / masonry |
| Tower shape: | octagonal / conical / conical / conical |
| Height: | ? / ? / 18 metres / 49 metres |
| Range: | 22 nautical miles (41 kilometres) |
| Characteristic: | white light flashes twice every 10 seconds |
Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, 9 statute miles (14 kilometres) south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss.[1]
The current structure is the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site. The first and second were destroyed. The third, also known as Smeaton's Tower, is the best known because of its influence on lighthouse design and its importance in the development of concrete for building . Its upper portions have been re-erected in Plymouth as a monument.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Winstanley's lighthouse
The first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. Construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on 14 November, 1698. During construction, a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner, causing Louis XIV to order his release with the words "France is at war with England, not with humanity".[2]
The lighthouse survived its first winter but was in need of repair. The top was replaced, which causes some sources to state there have been five lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Winstanley's tower lasted until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace on 27 November. Winstanley was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him.[3][4]
The cost of construction and five years' maintenance totalled £7,814 7s.6d, during which time dues totalling £4,721 19s.3d had been collected at 1d per ton from passing vessels.
[edit] Rudyard's lighthouse
Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by Act of Parliament was allowed to charge passing ships a toll of 1d per ton. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete and first lit in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly 50 years.[2]
On the night of 2 December, 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven onto the rock as the tower burnt down and were rescued by boat. Henry Hall, who was 84 or 94 at the time, died from lead poisoning because of the molten lead from the lantern roof he had ingested fighting the fire.[2] A report on this case of lead poisoning was submitted to the Royal Society by the physician Dr Edmund Spry, and the piece of lead is now in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland.[5]
[edit] Smeaton's lighthouse
50°21′52.09″N 4°8′31.67″W / 50.3644694°N 4.1421306°W
The third lighthouse marked a major step forward in the design of such structures.
Recommended by the Royal Society, civil engineer John Smeaton modelled the shape on an oak tree, built of granite blocks. He pioneered 'hydraulic lime', a concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 at Millbay[6] and the light was first lit on 16 October, 1759.[2]
Smeaton's lighthouse was 59 feet (18 m) high and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet (8 m) and at the top of 17 feet (5 m). It remained in use until 1877 when it was discovered that the rocks upon which it stood were eroded—each time a large wave hit the lighthouse it would shake from side to side. Smeaton's lighthouse was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in Plymouth, as a memorial.
The foundations and stub of the tower remain, close to the new and more solid foundations of the current lighthouse[2] - the foundations proved too strong to be dismantled so the Victorians left them where they stood.
[edit] Douglass's lighthouse
The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass, using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's techniques. The light was lit in 1882 and is still in use. It is operated by Trinity House. It was automated in 1982, the first Trinity House lighthouse to be converted. The tower has been changed by construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews access.[2]
The tower is 49 metres (161 ft) high, and its white light flashes twice every 10 seconds. The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 kilometres), and is supplemented by a fog signal of 3 blasts every 60 seconds.[2]
[edit] References in literature and popular song
- The lighthouse inspired a sea shanty, frequently recorded, that begins "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light //And he slept with a mermaid one fine night//Out of this union there came three//A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me!"[7] and has been used as a metaphor for stability.[8]
- Eddystone lighthouse is mentioned in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: "See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the Eddystone Lighthouse".
- It is also mentioned in C.S. Forester's "A Ship of the Line", Hornblower's adventures in Spain (1938).
- A novel based on the building of Smeaton's lighthouse, containing many details of the construction, was published in 2005.[9]
[edit] References in music and television
- The lighthouse is celebrated in the opening and closing movements of Ron Goodwin's Drake 400 Suite. The movement's main theme was directly inspired by the lighthouse's unique light characteristic.
- The current BBC1 continuity announcements feature a variety of locations, including an image of a helicopter landing on the roof
- The Adventures of Portland Bill, a British children's animation, features a character called Eddy Stone.
- The design and building of Douglass' lighthouse is documented in an episode of the TV series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World".
[edit] References
- ^ "Get A Map". Ordnance Survey. http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=SX3830333632. Retrieved on September 6 2006. View at 1:50000 scale.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Eddystone Lighthouse". Trinity House. http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/eddystone.html. Retrieved on September 6 2006.
- ^ "Eddystone Lighthouse History". Eddystone Tatler Ltd. http://www.eddystoneeel.com/LIGHTHOUSE%20HISTORY.htm. Retrieved on September 7 2006.
- ^ "The Great Storm of 1703". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/1703_storm.shtml. Retrieved on September 7 2006.
- ^ Palmer, Mike (2005). Eddystone: the Finger of Light (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Seafarer Books. ISBN 095470620X.
- ^ Langley, Martin (1987). Millbay Docks (Port of Plymouth series). Exeter: Devon Books. pp. 2. ISBN 0861148061.
- ^ "The Eddystone Light". http://ingeb.org/songs/mefather.html. Retrieved on April 11 2008.
- ^ Thomas D'Arcy McGee commented that Canada's foundations were as "strong as the foundations of Eddystone" in The Globe, 31 October 1864, 4.
- ^ Severn, Christopher (2005). Smeaton's Tower. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Seafarer Books. ISBN 0954275098.
